Maserati

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Here’s another post regarding one of my long-time friends from high school.

Jim Bruni caught a mention in an article within Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car – MAY 1, 2009 – BY DAVID TRAVER ADOLPHUS:

“A Maserati 3500 GT became the car of a lifetime.“

For the record, I have not ever been the type of female to judge a guy by his car. Back in 1970, Jim once borrowed his Mom’s Lincoln Continental to take me to the drive-in. Normally, we moved around in something more non-descript. I just recall Jim’s high school car as reliable, a dark color, and always freshly washed before a date.

Back then I adored my own convertible, a cheap black ‘64 Corvair with red interior. My current set of wheels is just as unimpressive, but my cute little reliable Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck fits into the lifestyle of a southern fringe rural community even if it does not like to climb North Georgia’s rather low mountains.

But, yes, I’d love a ride in Jim’s blue Maserati – it’s my favorite color!

New: “Roadmap to Success”

Recently I reconnected with an acquaintance, from our high school days, who has dedicated his life to coaching people to fully develop their potential and success in business and life.

The teenage Joe I knew has gone on to associate and fine tune his own amazing talents with internationally recognized names like Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey.

The website at Intentional Achievements showcases the workshops and books that Joseph Price has created.

Roadmap to Success has just been published and is now available for purchase!

With high school and college graduations coming up, this book is a fine gift idea!

Alltop Boomers

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Alltop’s new Boomers category gains my recommendation. Although their other categories can seem splotchy at times, the feed coverage for the Baby Boomer (BB) generation is broad and deep.

There’s some redundancy which leads me to believe that editors are quickly gathering feeds into categories. It is perhaps a step-above semantic, automated only, results.

When I suggested a category to Alltop, the response requested that I send along feed suggestions. Well, put me on your payroll Gary K. I do participate in social bookmarking sites which are more tit-for-tat. I am reluctant to work for a site like Alltop that, overall, does not meet my needs or live up to expectations. Certainly, Alltop has potential to be awesome.

Frankly, I feel there are two good human options to “flesh out” the many sites that are rushing to semantic offerings. Incorporate social networks for the breadth that “mobs” provide and hire professional librarians to manage the depth, organization and connections of resources. It is the social semantic web trend that will produce the best results for our near future.

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Web 2.0 to Semantic Web 3.0

Even as web 2.0 becomes old hat, new information comes to notice via social bookmark sites like Diigo and del.icio.us or feed readers like bloglines. Today, I was reminded via the rotorblog.com that familiar applications may be used in ways that I haven’t thought of trying: All WordPress Unusual Uses.

Yet, it is the evolving semantic web 3.0 applications that are providing the most engaging links to related interests and information. I am coming to rely more and more upon applications like Twine and Zemanta.

While TED is an adored inspiration that is linked on whysup’s “Best Life” sidebar category, it was Zemanta that led me to the following glimpse of delightful emerging technology options in a TED Talk by David Merrill’s demo of “siftables smart blocks.”

Don’t miss out on finding your favorite new talk at TED:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks.

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Does Different Mean Difficult?

Image by a-lil-spaz via Flickr

Is it my imagination, or do the majority of messages in our society tell us that aging equates to being unable or unwilling to change?

I was reminded of this slant today by an online article from ABC News by way of the Christian Science Monitor: Older Workers Hit Roadblocks in Changed Job Markets: Experts Say Technology, Market Makes Job Hunt Difficult for Older Workers. By Marilyn Gardner March 1, 2009.

As with many online articles, the follow-up comments add interesting and informative content. I gain the same understanding from it that I have seen when I’m job hunting; each firm handles the process in their own fashion. Technology started providing additional options for submitting applications a number of years ago, so that’s not news.

Job hunting is not easy for anyone. Unless you are in a field with a shortage of qualified workers, finding satisfactory work is often downright grueling. Job hunting is competitive and there’s only one job “winner” per position, so in every situation there are bound to be well-qualified older (and younger) candidates left to continue their job search.

Pointing a finger at “ageism” when there are numerous plausible possibilities for why one person was chosen over others, is an unreasonable leap in judgment.

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Pumping Productivity

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I am involved in a push to accelerate my social network connections and online productivity. This learning experience overlaps my career and personal interests.

In the next several weeks my learning adventure promises to become a series of posts. Other Baby Boomers may also want to tackle more of what the Internet offers. So, readers are invited to follow my folly starting with several links that provide an introductory overview.

The “education lite” map “The Networked Teacher” by courosa has been in circulation around the net (I wish he had added students as a category) but I gravitate to the in-depth information provided by the Mindjet Blog:

Mindjet: Mapping your social networks for maximum productivity online. February 9, 2009 @ 10:30 am.

Also note: Brian Solis Online – Social Map on Flick:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/2374839848/

Brian’s “Social Graph Central” pointed me to Loic LeMeur’s video on YouTube. It is dated April 1, 2008 so there will be additional services that have come on the scene since then, but it is still a very good introduction to creating a map of your social network as a personal learning (and sharing) environment.

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Aren’t social networks suppose to expand?

TIME: US: Technoculture: Why Facebook Is for Old Fogies. By Lev Grossman Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009.

Image by luc legay via Fli

Facebook was a “God-send” for my family a few weeks ago when my three-year-old grandson had to undergo some medical tests, including a bone scan. My son uploaded photos and updates as events unfolded. Clear across the continent I was able to sweat, pray, and celebrate along with the action until the ultimate diagnosis that the little one’s condition was not serious.

Until recently, I also lurked on my son’s friends as they traded updates and photos and video clips. After all, I know most of them since many are my prior students. Suddenly, I went in the opposite direction by deciding that I’ll simply ask for a friend invite once a year to check out their photo albums, then slide back into my core group.

My use of Facebook has become selective and social, primarily in “private” circles, though a few of my old high school friends seem to concentrate on their business connections and persona. That creates a bit of a problem since my status updates can be goofy, but I’ll leave it to them to add or delete me from their connection. I am near retirement so I don’t want to promote my current career via Twitter or LinkedIn, but once I am ready to promote myself into new areas of work I’ll be there.

So, I don’t agree with all ten points of discussion in the Grossman’s articles, but it certainly gave me a few moments of introspection about my own use of Facebook. It tickles me when writers forget that the Internet developed along with the Baby Boomers‘ lives. Yes, Boomers used the old school versions of the Internet. Look around: we are still actively engaged, learning and creating, with current technologies. This Boomer has beta tested more than one semantic application. Yet, I chose a template to blog instead of spending time to design my own style. My abilities, skills, and choices via technology applications are different than others select, but that’s the idea isn’t it?

I think the article missed the point that initially Facebook followed My Space by touting itself as an application for college students. Now that the initial adoptees have graduated (well, hopefully most of them), Facebook and My Space are moving with them along their adult situations, so there’s more reason for other adults to join them.

Naturally, the stereotype of “Old Fogies” doesn’t mean me!

And, yes, I refuse to upload anything to Facebook now that they have changed their polices. I even posted a link to the Consumerist’s coverage for my Facebook friends, young and old, so that they wouldn’t miss the news.

UPDATE 2/18/2009: To give credit where it belongs, due to negative media and member response, Facebook has retracted immediate changes in the policy and is now taking suggestions from Facebook users.

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House Plants for Healthy Indoor Air

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air – TED 2009 Talk

View more presentations from jaymeattle. (tags: plants greenhouse)

For more information, visit:

http://greenspaces.in/blog/2009/02/04/learn-how-to-grow-your-own-fresh-air-at-ted-2009/

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Checking Out Our Moves

We Baby Boomers, especially the women, reportedly hold the bulk of our nation’s wealth.  A March 2004 brief from The Congressional Budget Office announced, “Baby boomers–people born between 1946 and 1964–make up one of the largest and most prosperous generations in U.S. history.”

Does money move you?

Unless age does make a difference in such matters, according to research from University of California, Berkeley, psychologists [Kraus and Keltner] the majority of our Boomer gestures must be “rich”.   Though, in reality, during these days of economic hardship across the nation, anyone who still has a job feels blessed and wealthy.

Yahoo! News: Body Language Reveals Wealth. Jeanna Bryner Senior Writer LiveScience.com jeanna Bryner – Tue Feb 10, 1:05 pm ET

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New Connections

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I’ve just linked to Yahoo’s Bloglog in order to follow one of my sons’ devotees: known as “paperclip.”

Just ignore the question of “is it ethical to poach my sons’ viewers?”–obviously I am, because I enjoy getting a glimpse into family life beyond our own country. (And, yes, I’ve done the same by taking on some of the “friends” from the younger set on Facebook.) Reaching across generations really isn’t a crime is it?

Too many people only join groups or read posts that already agree with their sensibilities. Make it a challenge to yourself to cruise diverse multi-generational social communities on and off line. Embrace tolerance to increase communication and understanding between groups in this precious world.

Yahoo’s Bloglog also leads to additional Baby Boomer communities via the search option. It provided yet another way to link up with the Baby Boomer [Knowledge Center].

Do you consciously reach out to diverse communities? Drop a comment to share your experience!